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Condition critical: The medical crisis facing America

By Peter Aldhous in San Francisco

IN FEBRUARY this year, an elderly woman showed up in the emergency room at the University of California, San Francisco, struggling to breathe – not an unusual symptom for a patient with a weak heart. But her underlying condition was not the only problem. She was also being troubled by a cardiac defibrillator and pacemaker, costing tens of thousands of dollars, that had been implanted into her chest at another hospital just days before.

“She was a very frail old lady. It was a bulky device, and it was protruding out of her chest and making her diaphragm jump every time …